The Assassin's Blade
by penny4him
Summary: “You could be dead right now, but I like to see who's the stronger.” How a young Artemis Entreri comes to possess the jeweled dagger. One-shot. R&R please!


_The recognizable characters appearing in this story are © Wizards of the Coast, Inc., all rights reserved. They are used without permission and for entertainment purposes only. No profit is being made by the author for writing this story. No infringement upon nor challenge to the rights of the copyright holders is intended; nor should any be inferred._

A/N: This one was written by my hubby, not me!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Artemis Entreri A young assassin in the Basadoni guild

Basadoni Guild A guild of middling power in the city of Calimshan

Da'Daclan Guild A rival of the Basadoni guild

Glivis An assassin in the Da'Daclan guild

Samdel "the Snake" A lieutenant of questionable importance in the Basadoni guild

**THE ASSASSIN'S BLADE**

Samdel was impressed; he had been skulking the shadows of Calimport for almost twenty years – something very few could claim – yet he was impressed.

Orders had come down from the pasha himself. One of the rival guilds was taking too much and had to be punished. One of their enforcers was to be removed, a Glivis – feared perhaps by every lowlife in the city; rumor said he didn't kill for money and that made everyone uneasy.

He had killed ten important assets of Basadoni in the last couple ten-days. He had to die. And there was the man who would kill him – and the reason Samdel was impressed – Artemis Entreri. As Entreri was new to the guild, Samdel knew nothing of him except that the pasha had his eye on him and, as he was presently learning, Entreri was incredibly difficult to follow.

"Enough," Samdel thought, "I'll confront him in the next alley."

Moments later, Samdel stepped into the alley, seconds behind his elusive mark, and froze. The cold prick of a knife against his back told him that Entreri was even harder to follow than he had realized.

"You've been following me," a cold, passionless voice stated. "Why?"

Trying to make his voice as calm as Entreri's, Samdel answered, "The Pasha sends his regards." The knife didn't move. "I have your next job – he's an assassin for the Da'Daclan guild. He's been killing our people – name's Glivis."

By the time Samdel turned to face Entreri he was already alone.

"Good luck kid, you'll need it..." Samdel smiled to himself.

--

Glivis sat outside the money changers', counting people. It was a run-down one story house, perfect for keeping certain business transactions secret. And, icing on the cake, it was owned by one of his boss' rivals. One in, two out, one more out – finally it was empty except for the two clerks and the two guards. He glided through the door and, with great show, dropped the latch behind him.

"Hey, what'd you think yer doin'?" was one guards worthless response, and his last, as Glivis' dagger ensured that he would never ask a stupid question again. The second guard did not waste time with words; by the time the first guards' throat was opened he already had his sword out and was lunging for the fool who thought he could rob Basadoni.

Glivis turned to meet the second guard in time to feel cold steel slide through his lung and out his back – gods how that hurt! The guard saw his thrust land true, pulled his sword out to stab again, and fell weakly to the floor – there was a dagger in his stomach, a beautiful jeweled dagger, and he could feel his life flowing out through it.

Glivis smiled – how it hurt, but how he loved the feel of a new soul and the new vitality it brought! Finished with the guards, Glivis looked at the two clerks cowering behind a desk with hunger in his eyes – two more delicious souls. Ten minutes later he left – he hadn't even looked at the money.

--

Entreri left his shadow – for a darker one – as he followed Glivis from the money changers'. He had seen the whole thing, and was wiser for it. Glivis was an unsubtle and careless man, but he had a dagger that stole its victims' health and gave it to the wielder. Power like that made up for many inadequacies; imagine power like that in the hands of one without inadequacies! How to kill that man, and how to acquire that dagger?

Artemis Entreri followed his prey for the better part of four days; he believed it would be an easy kill, but he wanted the man alone. As long as he was around people he had a nearly limitless healing potential.

--

Glivis looked over his shoulder – still alone, but still the feeling of being watched. Why would Samdel "the Snake" have asked for this meeting? Surely not to kill him himself; the Snake hadn't bloodied his own blade is almost five years. Probably a bribe or attempt at intimidation – _trying to get me to stop killing his underlings._ "We'll see who intimidates who," he muttered under his breath.

"Talking to yourself?" a cold voice asked.

Glivis turned, blade already bared. Not four feet from him, Artemis Entreri stood, sword in one hand, dagger in the other.

"You could be dead right now, but I like to see who's the stronger." The voice was so cold it could have been coming straight from the grave.

Glivis lunged, heedless of his own safety. After all, healing was so easy. Entreri stepped to the side and slapped the other man's dagger out wide – just to be safe. His own dagger slid down the other man's forearm.

Just as he felt pain explode in his stomach, Entreri looked down to see a thin blade. As fast as the pain was upon him Entreri thought, "this must be the one Glivis came down here for." A familiar voice whispered in his ear, "That dagger will be mine!"

The blade slid out to stab again – to stab nothing! Entreri was gone.

Something hot across Samdel's wrists and the strength was gone from his hands; his sword fell into the sewer's muck.

Glivis was confused – first, Entreri attacking him, then someone attacking Entreri. Then, Entreri gone and that person screaming. "I really wanted the bribe," he muttered as he warily stalked over to the screaming man. "Snake? Well, I may as well finish you off..."

A noise, a grunt maybe? from his left and a warm _something_ running down his throat and chest. The voice from the grave – the voice from _his_ grave... "Don't finish him, I'll need him in a moment."

His precious dagger was pried from his shaking hand and Glivis watched the horrible, beautiful weapon give Entreri his life back, then, fascinated, Glivis felt his own life slide out of himself and into the dagger. If his throat weren't cut he would have said, "It hurts," but, Glivis knew, it was supposed to.

THE END


End file.
